Art of manufacturing shank pieces



Oct. 11, 1932. V LAIRD 1,882,020

ART OF MANUFACTURING SHANK PIECES Filed Jan. 16, 1926 2 Sheets- Sheet lOct. 11, l932. E. R. LAIRD ART OF MANUFACTURING SHANK PIECES 2Sheets-Sh'eet 2 Filed Jan. 16, 1926 //v VE/V 717R.

Patented Oct. 11, 1932 warren STATES PATENT oFIcE" EVERSLEIGH R. LAIRID,0F BR OCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 UNITED. SHANK & FINDINGSCOMPANY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPGRATION OF MASSA-Q CHUSETTS ARTOF MANUFACTURING SHANK PIECES Application filed January 16, 1926. SerialNo. 81,765.

This invention relates to improvements 1n the art of manufacturlng shankP16C%, to improved machines for operating upon shank pieces, and toimproved shank pieces The a machine herein illustrated as embodylng the.invention is particularly adapted for performing finishing operatlonsupon wooden shank pieces.

l Vooden shank pieces for use in welt or. McKay sewed shoes are adaptedto be positioned between the insole and the outsole and they arecommonly made with their opposite lateral margins beveled at theoutsole-engaging side of the shank piece toavoid interference withthe-transverse molding of the 7 shank portion of the outsole in the solelaying or in the sole leveling operation. Usually the 7 angle of bevelis such that sharply defined shoulders or ridge-like projections areformed between the inner edges of the beveled margins and the adjacentunbeveledsurface of the shank piece and these shoulders are liable tobecome embedded in the sole under the heavy pressure exerted by the solelaying and the- '25 sole leveling machines with the result thatcorresponding lines or ridges are apt to be. formed in the outer surfaceof the outsole,

of the finished shoe.

One object of the present inventi on accord- 30 ingly, is to insureagainst the presence of undesirable lines or ridges in. the outsole orother undesirable results caused by the presence of shoulders, such asabove referred to, onthe shank pieces. With this object in view theinvention provides a machine for operating upon shank pieces of theabovementioned type which, as herein illustrated, comp-rises a worksupport, rotary members for performing finishing operations upon a shankpiece on the work support, and an abutment member extending above thework support and'located 1n the.

path of feed of the shank piece iorproducing relative movement betweenthe shank pieces and the rotary finishing members to enable the latterto perform finishing operations upon the shank piece as it feeds theshank piece,

theabutment member being rendered-opera tive by movement impartedthereto bythe shank piece. The illustrated finishing members consist ofsanding rolls and the illustrated work support comprises a pair ofspaced yieldingfingers constructedand ar-' ranged to hold a. shank piecein feeding engagement with the sanding rolls. The illustrated abutmentmember is arranged to extend between the work-supporting fingers sofeatures of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View of a portion of the machine shown in Fig. 1,the section being .taken along the plane indicated by the line IIII inFig. 1;

Fig. 3isja perspective view showing particularly the means forsupporting a shank piece while it is being operated upon in the machineand Fig. 4 is a detail sectional viewtaken along the line IV-IV of Fig.2.

As alreadyexplained, wooden shank pieces.

are commonly made with beveled lateral margins forming well definedshoulders on i the outsole-engaging surfaces of theshank pieces andthese shoulders are liable to pro duce objectionable linesor ridges uponthe tread face of the sole. of a finished shoe in which the shank pieceis to be incorporated. The machine herein illustrated is adapted to iremove these shoulders from the shank pieces by means of'agrinding orabrasive action] W 40 1S drlven from an electric motor 28 by means whichgrinds off the shoulders and causes the beveled margins of each shankpiece to merge gradually with the unbeveled surface of theoutsole-engaging side of the shank j piece.

To this end the illustrated mach1ne,by the use of which the novel methodof this invention may advantageously be practised, is

- provided with a pair of sanding rolls 6, 6,

a pair of spring fingers 8, 8 arranged to hold a shank piece yieldinglyagainst the peripheries of the two sanding rolls in such a manner thatthe shank piece will be fed along the supporting fingers by the rotativeactions of the sanding rolls, and a feed retarding device, indicatedgenerally at 10 in Fig, 2, for

' engaging each shank piece andcausing it to having peripheries coveredby sand paper or other suitable abrasive means. The sanding rolls arefixed to the inner ends of two i shafts 12, 12 which are journaled insuitable bearings formed in brackets 14,- 14 secured to a bed plate 16which is supported upon upright frame members 18, 18. The shafts 12,

12 are'inclined to the horizontal at angles equal to approximatelyone-half the angle of bevel of the lateral faces of the shank pieces toenable the sanding rolls to function most effectively to smooth or roundofi the shoulders on the shank pieces. The sanding roll shafts 12, 12are driven from a horizontal shaft 20 by means of belts 22 passing overpulleys 24 on the shafts 12 and pulleys 26*on the shaft 20. The shaft20in turn of a'belt' 30pas sing over a pulley 32 onthe motor shaft and apulley 34 on the shaft 20.

The shank piece supporting fingers 8, 8 extend horizontally in thedirection of feed beneath the sanding rolls andthey are arranged side byside and spaced apart to permit the work-engaging portions of the feedretarding device 10 to move between the fingers into operative positionsin the path of movement ofthe shank pieces. As shown,

they fingers 8 are secured at their forward 'ends to a block 38 on thebed plate 16 while the rear extremities of the fingers are unsupported.The block 38'is cut away, as shown at 40, to enable the fingers 8 toyield freely as the shank pieces are received between the fingers andthe sanding rolls.

The shank pieces are introduced endwise and fed lengthwise beneath thesanding rolls and in orderto center the shank pieces widthwise withrespect to the sanding rolls a pair of. edge guides 42,1f0rmed fromstrips of angle iron, are secured to the block 38 at opposite sides ofthe fingers. In order to accommodate shank pieces of different widthsthe edge guides 42 are mounted with provision for adjustment toward andfrom each other, being secured to the block 38,

as shown in Fig. 3, by means of bolts "44 which extend through slots 46in the edge uides. v

Each shank piece is fed by the sanding rolls into engagement with aportion of the feed retarding device 10 which slows up the advance ofthe shank piece causing itto move at a rate slower than the peripheralspeed of the sanding rolls, thus rendering the sanding rolls effectiveto grind away the portions of the shank piece which are held in contacttherewith. V v

The feed retarding device 10 comprises a plurality of radiallydisposedwork engaging arms 50 and these arms are equally spaced apart around theperiphery of a drum52 en'- by speed reducing connections comprising abelt 58 (Fig. 1) passing over pulleys 60 and 62 on the shaft 20 and on afixed stud 64, respectively, and a belt 66. which passes over a pulley68 compounded with the pulley 62 and also over a pulley 70 which is fastupon the shaft 56. i The drum 52 is loosely mounted circling a hub 54that is fast upon a hori- V zontal shaft 56. The shaft 56 is arranged toi be driven at. a slower speed than the shaft 20 upon the hub 54 so thatit is capable of turning fastei than the hub but means is provided forclutching the drum to the hub so that it will be constrained to turn inunison with it. This means comprises a pluv rality of clutch members 72each of which is pivoted at 74 to the drum 52 and is adapted to swingabout its pivot 74 to move a stag:

mental shoe 7 6 carried thereby into and'out on the drum. The clutchmembers 72 are adapted selectively to be forced inwardly into frictionalengagement with the rotating hub 54 by means of a segmental cam 82 whichis pivoted at 84 to a fixed part of the machine frame and which isarranged to co-operate with a plurality of cam roils 86severally carriedby the clutch members 72. The cam 82 is held in operative position inthe path of the cam rolls 86 by means of aspring 88 fastened at one endto the cam and at the other end to a portion of the machine frame.

WVhen no shank piece is being operated upon by the sanding rolls thedrum 52 with its radial arms 50 remains at rest, the'drum beingheldag'ainst turning with the hub 54 by engagement of the cam roll 86,carried by one of the clutch members 72, with a notch or depression 90formed in the cam 82. The

1 ines-ps V engagement of any one of the cam rolls 86 with thedepression 90 in the cam 82 serves also to position the drum 52 with oneof the radial arms 50 projecting upwardly across the path of feed of theshank pieces, as shown in Fig. 2.

When a shank piece has been introduced between the sanding rolls 6 andfingers 8'it will be advanced by the action of the rolls into engagementwith the upwardly extending arm 50 of the drum 52, and contlnued forwardmovement of the shank piece will advance the arm 50 and turn the drum 52until the cam roll 86 which is engaging the cam 82 rides out of thedepression 90, this movement of the cam roll being effective to swingthe respective clutch member 72 inwardly to engage its shoe 76 with theperiphery of the hub '54. The cam 82 is enabled to move the clutchmembers inwardly in this manner inasmuch as the spring 88 which actsupon the cam 82 is stronger than the springs 78 which tend to move theclutch member outwardly. After one of the clutch members 72-has beenmoved into engagement with the hub 54 the rotation of the drum 52 willbe slowed down and the drum will be constrainedto turn in unison withthezhub for substantially a quarter of a revolution, at the end of whichthe cam roll 86 will leave the cam 82 and the clutch member will beswung outwardly by its spring 7 8 so that it will be disengaged from thehub 54 and the drum52 will be brought to rest with the cam roll 86carried by the succeeding clutch member 72 in engagementwiththedepression 90 in the cam 82 and consequentlywith another arm 50extending across the path of feed of the shank pieces. The parts-are soproportioned that each arm 50 will advance in the line of feed of theshank pieces far enough at each step movement of the feed retardingdevice to permit the longest shank pieces which-are bite of the sandingrolls. As each shank piece to be operated upon to be fed beyond the isadvanced beyond the sanding rolls, it drops off from the supportingfingers 8 and may be received in a suitable receptacle (not shown).

The invention having been described, what is claimed as new and desiredto be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In a machineof the class described, a finishing roll, a yielding work supportcomprising a pair of spaced fingers, means ex tending between saidfingers and co-operating with the roll to feed a piece of work alon thesupport at a different speed from that of the periphery of the roll, andmeans on the roll for performing a finishing operation on the work asthe work is fed.

2. In a machine of the class described, a

work support, a finishing member arranged to feed a shank piece alongsaid support, a f

driving clutch member, a. normally idle driven clutch member, an armcarried by movement -and meansffor engaging a the clutch members"up'onfengagement' of the shank 'piece with said arm and for disengageing'the cluteh' member's after-the shank piece has moved away fromthefinishing member.

3. In a machineofthje class described, a

support acrossi which a piece of work: is

adapted to be fed, a driven shaft provided with a hub, a drum mountedtoturn on the hub, a plurality of radial arms on the drum adapted to bemoved successively into the path of feed ofthe work, normally disengaged clutch mechanism for connecting the drum with the shaft, a rotaryfinishing member arranged to engage and operate upon a pieclei ofwork onthe support and feed the wor to turn the" drum on' the shaft, and meansagainst one of said arms and thereby rendered operative by said turningof the drum to engage said clutch mechanism.

4. In a machine of the class" described, a

yielding support for a shank piece, a rotary buffing wheel forperforming a finishing operation on the shank piece and for feeding theshank piece across thesupport, a drum provided with an abutment memberadapted to be engaged by a shank piece on the support and moved thereby,a shaft driven at a lower rate of speed than the buffing wheel on whichthe drum is mounted, normally disengaged clutch mechanism for connectingthe drum with the shaft, means operated by movement of the drum ontheshaftfor engaging said clutch mechanism, and means for dlsengagingsaid clutch mechanism after a shank piece has been fed past-the bufiingwheel. I

'5. In a machine of the class"described, a work support,a rotarymemberfor performing finishing operations upon a piece of work on thesupport, and an abutment'member extending .above' said support andlocated in the path of feed of the vwork for producing relative movementbetween the work and the rotary member to enable the'rotary member toperform a finishing operation upon the work as it feeds the work, saidabutment member being rendered operative by movement imparted thereto bythe work. V

6. In a machine of theclass described, a

work support comprising a pair of spaced fingers, an abrasive roll forperforming a to engage and feeda piece of work along the support," andwork restraining means extending between said fingers and constructedand arranged to engage theforward end of the work throughout themovement of'the work along the support to prevent the work rom moving atthe same speed as that of the periphery of the abrasive roll:

In a machine of the class described,a"-

112v g finishing operation on the work and arranged smoothing roll, :a.yielding support eomprfising a, pair of spacedifirigers, for holding a vI igwood shank in feeding'erigagement]with the roll, and meansprojecting, between. said 5 fingers and rendered Operative :bym Vementimparted thereto by the shank to-reta'rdihe feed of the shankto enablethe roll tosrhooth the shank. ,1 ,7 ,7 In'testimony whereof:llhavesigned my i name tothis specification.

1 g. EVERSLEIGH R} LAIRD.

CERTIFICATE OF CORREGTION.

Patent No. 1,882,020. October 11, 1932.

EVERSLEIGH R. LAIRD.

it is hereby certified that error appears in the printed specificationof the above numbered patent requiring correction as follows: Page 3,line 45, strike out the words "to be operated upon to be fed beyond the"and insert the same after line 43; and that the said Letters Patentshould be read with this correction therein that the same may conform tothe record of the case in the Patent Office.

Sign d and sealed this 1st day of August, A. D. 1933.

M. J. Moore.

(Seal) Acting Commissioner of Patents.

